Hi Readers! Trick or treat or track? Those are the three Halloween options this year, according to this aaadtzryab piece in the Orlando Sentinel, thanks to an app that allows parents to track their kids as they go trick or treating (or as they go anywhere, Â any day. It’s not like the app only works […]
Archive | 2011
New Outrage! Kids in Cafeteria Must Ask Adults to Get Them Utensils
Readers, daafdheits readers — I can’t stand how stupid our culture is some times! Like…right now! At this school! This story came in as a comment to the previous post. — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: We just recently had a similar situation at my kids’ elementary school. Last week, a first grader fell and hit […]
Outrage of the Week: School Cordons Off 3-Foot Hill
Hi itkztbeyff Readers — Just got this note from David Robert Hogg, who blogs about traveling the world with kids at MyLittleNomads.com. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill!  — L . Dear Free- Range Kids: I live in Seattle. Home to hikers, snowboarders, world travelers. It seemed like everyone I know was giving their […]
Safe Sax? Impossible, Says School Bus Company
Readers — Here’s the kkdezdtzib wildest “safety” story of the day: A middle school kid has been told he can’t take his sax on the school bus, because it is a safety hazard. Apparently the bus is already crowded, but somehow the sax makes it TOO crowded to ride safely, even though it fits under […]
The Secret To Happy, Ready-to-Learn Kids (Hint: It’s Not Test Prep. Or Is it?)
Hi Readers! This is just a beyond-belief great playground idea:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqi1KyJJeKg] As simple as it gets. As fun as it gets. And (if we must justify the idea of kids doing things on their own) as developmentally rich as it gets. Watch it and weep — with joy for the kids with this kind of recess, […]
“Worst-First” From Birth
Hi enaffnrsab Folks! Got this letter I liked a lot. It’s from a reader named Kimberly Anderson, who describes herself as “a cheerfully misanthropic mom of three in Lexington, Kentucky.” — L Dear Free-Range Kids:  I have a six month old. I also have a 4 year old and a 6 year old. Now that I’m a Free-Ranger […]
From My Mailbox: “10 Ways to Use Technology to Spy on Your Kids”
Hi Readers — Out of the blue I got this “tip” sheet with a request to post it. As I replied to the sender: “I have a feeling you are not very familiar with my blog.” Those of you who ARE familiar with the basic Free-Range Kids concept that our kids are less endangered and […]
Outrage of the Week: Europe Bans Balloons for Kids Under 8!
Hi Folks! A number of you sent me this esbyhyyish today — news of the European Union’s new ban on kids under age 8 blowing up balloons unsupervised, for fear the children could swallow them and choke. This is not to discount the suffering of any family that has experienced this unlikely tragedy. But if […]
One-Ninth The Freedom Kids Used to Have
Hi khbyibeits Readers — This is from an article by Tim Gill in The Guardian last week. Tim is a friend, an activist, a blogger and author of No Fear, a book examining what it means to grow up in a completely risk averse society. In the article I’m quoting from, he’s talking about how there’s […]
Guest Post by Greg Olear: Swan Song for Swings?
 Hi byfddtaysd Folks! Here’s a guest post from Greg Olear, senior editor of The Nervous Breakdown and the author of the novels Totally Killer (Harper, 2009) and the brand-spanking-new Fathermucker, which concerns a single tumultuous day in the life of a stay-at-home dad. I absolutely adored Fathermucker — soooo funny and soooo spot-on about parenting foibles (every single, […]